This unsettled weather makes today a difficult day for taking good pictures! We are struggling in this late spring afternoon to be able to capture the best light and avoid getting wet. We arrive in the beautiful location of today, Villa Ariston, a luxury hotel in the heart of Versilia located in the seafront of Lido di Camaiore.
This hotel comes from the historic castle of Senator Vittorio Rolandi Ricci, honorary ambassador of the King Vittorio Emanuele III. The project of the building was made by the Tuscan architect Gino Coppedè and the structure was built between 1871 and 1909. Once arrived the staff and the director welcomed us giving the permission to shoot photos everywhere we need.
Luckily, the weather was on our side, allowing us to realize our pictures. And, in the end, this “English” whether looks appropriate for this car. This time in fact, in front of our cameras, we have a Jaguar XF in white color, because, as a Ferrari has to be red, a Jaguar has to be white or dark green.
We decided to talk about this car because it represents a breaking point for the Jaguar brand, a clear separation with the past.
The context is the ownership change of the brand, after nearly twenty years of Ford ownership, Jaguar has been bought by the Indian Tata, which provided large funds and lots of freedom to designers. After this big changing, from the pencil of Ian Callum, Design Director of Jaguar since 1999, comes out this modern car.
The XF replaces the old S-Type and it represents a total revolution. From a classic sedan, as the S-Type, almost baroque, Jaguar switches to a modern hi- tech sport sedan, almost categorized as a four-door coupe, streamlined and aggressive.
The intent was to keep the classic Jaguar customers, and open the doors to a more “sporty” ones, used to buy German luxury cars. From England, Jaguar launched the challenge to the German’s luxury sedans like Audi, Mercedes and BMW, and we certainly can say that this car was a strong competitor.
Parked next to the beautiful Villa Ariston looks fantastic, much more elegant and refined than many highly priced SUV parked next to her before the shooting. Even the customers of the hotel notice her, with her highly successful line that manages to mix elegance and sport attitude as few can do.
Let’s speak more about her. “Our” Jaguar is powered by a V6 3000cc diesel turbo delivering 240 hp and 500 Nm. All that torque makes you feel driving a lightweight city car and not a car witch is nearly two tons.
The particular engine is equipped with a twin turbo. The first turbo has a variable geometry and the smaller one works in parallel exceeded 2800 rpm, spreading the power over the whole range of use without annoying gaps at low rpm. You can really drive this car with a little pressure of throttle, used in accordance with the traffic laws seems to have a very high power reserve. The 6-speed torque converter automatic transmission comes as standard and it feels soft and precise in gear changes.
Pressing the checkered flag button on the center console (Sport mode) allows you to change gears manually with the paddles on the steering wheel. The large central display shows the gear and this gearbox surprises for his fast shifting and the aggressiveness in the downshifting.
If you hold down the throttle the XF instant snaps forward in an unexpected way for a saloon of this size and bulk, less convincing is the steering, great for the city thanks to his lightness but less communicative during sporty driving. This Jaguar literally eats the road, the XF is great for long journey, it’s fast, elegant and comfortable.
At Villa Ariston comes the night, and we spent a great afternoon trying to do our best to capture this fantastic car and this beautiful location. It’s 8 pm on the clock and we’re hungry, we say hello to the nice young lady at the reception and we go out for a pizza on the promanade of Marina di Pietrasanta.
when we finish dinner we allow ourselves to enjoy an hour of the Versilia nightlife, famous for its clubs and pubs, and we note that even the youngest appreciate this XF and how she fits well, even in informal situations out of a luxury hotel. For us it’s time to come back behind the wheel, we head towards the seafront of Viareggio for a night photo shoot, having fun with the interior details.
If, as we said, the outside is a revolution, if you look at the interiors of this XF this revolution is even more pronounced. On the large central tunnel the power button flashes with the heart rhythm and, when pressed, we can look at a fantastic choreography which reminds us a spaceship. The cylindrical automatic transmission selector makes its appearance in the middle of the tunnel, the air vents, rotate to open, a stylized jaguar materializes in the large central screen and the wheel falls down few centimeters from where it was set to facilitate the driver when enters in the car.
Everything is illuminated by a modern blue lighting, completing the contrast with previous models of Jaguar. After this great choreography we can notice that the interior is also rich in classic high-quality materials such as leather, that covers the dashboard and seats, wood and aluminum.
In conclusion, we can define this car suitable for many occasions, from formal events, to fast and comfortable long-distance highway travels. We are satisfied by the many details in our pictures, it is time to say hello to her.
With a strong acceleration we see her getting away with the LED rear lights that soon become a dot far away on the seafront of Viareggio.
By: Leonardo Stefani
Photos: Edoardo Mascalchi, Marco Dellisanti
Jaguar XF:
Technical Data:
– 6 cylinders, 2993 cm3 Diesel twin turbo engine
– Power: 240 CV
– Torque di 500 Nm
– 6 speeds gear
– Maximum speed 240 Km/h
– 0/100 km/h in 7.1 seconds